The present invention relates to an air conditioning register in which fins are used to adjust the direction of flow of air conditioning air fed from an air conditioner to be blown into a compartment and, more particularly, to an air conditioning register having a structure in which fins are used to selectively open and close a ventilation passage.
Japanese Patent No. 4055693, for example, discloses an air conditioning register for adjusting the direction of flow of air conditioning air fed from an air conditioner to be blown into a passenger compartment, the register having a structure in which fins are used to close a ventilation passage.
The air conditioning register includes a case, multiple downstream fins, multiple upstream fins, and an operation knob. The downstream fins are each pivotally supported by the case via a downstream fin shaft. The upstream fins are located upstream of the downstream fins and extend in a direction perpendicular to the downstream fins. The upstream fins are each pivotally supported by the case via an upstream fin shaft. The operation knob is mounted on one of the downstream fins in a manner slidable in the axial direction of the downstream fin shafts. Further, in order to transmit the sliding operation of the operation knob to the upstream fins, the operation knob is formed with a rack, while the upstream fins are each formed with a pinion to mesh with the rack.
In the air conditioning register, when a force in the thickness direction of the downstream fins is applied to the operation knob, the downstream fins are tilted in the same direction about the downstream fin shafts. In this case, the rack is also tilted together with the downstream fins and thereby, with the pinion meshing with the rack, the rack slides on the teeth of the pinion in the face width direction of the rack (in the thickness direction of the downstream fins). Thus, the movement in the face width direction of the rack cannot be transmitted to the pinion and the upstream fins cannot be tilted. The air conditioning air is redirected to flow along the tilted downstream fins.
When the operation knob is operated to slide along the downstream fins, the rack meshes with and moves the pinion, so that the upstream fins are tilted about the upstream fin shafts. When the operation knob is operated in a normal movable range to slide along the downstream fins, the air conditioning air is redirected to flow along the tilted upstream fins. When the operation knob is operated in a specified movable range, which exceeds the normal movable range, to slide along the downstream fins, the upstream fins are tilted at a greater angle than that when operated to slide in the normal movable range, whereby the ventilation passage within the case is closed by the upstream fins and the air conditioning air cannot be blown out from the case.
On the other hand, Japanese Published Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-166518, for example, discloses an air conditioning register of the type having a mechanism for transmitting the sliding operation of an operation knob to upstream fins but not configured to close a ventilation passage with the upstream fins. In the air conditioning register, one of the upstream fins has a transmission shaft portion extending parallel with the upstream fin shafts. The operation knob has a fork portion sandwiching the transmission shaft portion therebetween.
In the air conditioning register disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-166518, when a force in the thickness direction of the downstream fins is applied to the operation knob, the fork portion is also tilted in the same direction together with the downstream fins while sandwiching the transmission shaft portion therebetween. Thus, the movement of the fork portion cannot be transmitted to the transmission shaft portion and the upstream fins cannot be tilted. On the other hand, when the operation knob is operated to slide along the downstream fins, the transmission shaft portion is pressed by the fork portion and the upstream fins are tilted about the upstream fin shafts.